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Herbert Hoover

67 quotes

“I see no reason why such a body should have any power that leads to supergovernment, or that in any way minimizes the very essential principle of nationalism upon which our patriotism and progress is founded.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Comment about the League of Nations in 1922 Herbert Hoover and Economic Diplomacy: Department of Commerce Policy, 1921–1928
“You convey too great a compliment when you say that I have earned the right to the presidential nomination. No man can establish such an obligation upon any part of the American people. My country owes me no debt. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbounded hope. My whole life has taught me what America means. I am indebted to my country beyond any human power to repay.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1928 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Senator George H. Moses, chairman of the Republican national convention, upon learning of his nomination for president (14 June 1928); reported in The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover (1952), volume 2, p. 195.
“While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed the worst and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover. There is one certainty of the future of a people of the resources, intelligence and character of the people of the United States—that is, prosperity.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1930 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address at annual dinner of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States (1 May 1930). Hoover is sometimes misreported as having said on this occasion or another, "Prosperity is just around the corner"; reported in Paul…
“The American people are doing their job today. They should be given a chance to show whether they wish to preserve the principles of individual and local responsibility and mutual self-help before they embark on what I believe to be a disastrous system. I feel sure they will succeed if given the opportunity.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1931 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Press statement (3 February 1931)
“What the country needs is a good big laugh. ... If someone could get off a good joke every ten days, I think our troubles would be over.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1931 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement to Raymond Clapper (c. February 1931)
“American life is builded, and can alone survive, upon . . . [the] fundamental philosophy announced by the Savior nineteen centuries ago.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1931 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Radio Address to the Nation on Unemployment Relief,” American Presidency Project, October 18, 1931
“Let me remind you that credit is the lifeblood of business, the lifeblood of prices and jobs.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1932 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address at Des Moines, Iowa, (4 October 1932)
“A good many things go around in the dark besides Santa Claus.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address to the John Marshall Republican Club, St. Louis, Missouri (16 December 1935)
“You may want to do a little autograph trading and I understand it takes five Hoovers to get one Babe Ruth.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Explaining himself to a young autograph seeker as he signed his name six times; as quoted in "Hoover Elated by Swift Turn From New Deal" by Philip Kinsley, in The Chicago Tribune (18 December 1935), p. 4
“Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address to the Nebraska Republican Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska (16 January 1936)
“We must fight again for a government founded on individual liberty and opportunity that was the American vision. If we lose we will continue down this New Deal road to some sort of personal government based upon collectivist theories. Under these ideas ours can become some sort of Fascist government.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Addresses Upon the American Road, Charles Scribber’s Son, New York (1938) p. 160
“Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die. And it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow and the triumphs that are the aftermath of war.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Chicago, Illinois to the 23rd Republican national convention (27 June 1944)
“What this country needs is a great poem. John Brown’s Body was a step in the right direction. I’ve read it once, and I’m reading it again. But it’s too long to do what I mean. You can’t thrill people in 300 pages... The limit is about 300 words. Kipling’s “Recessional” really did something to England when it was published. It helped them through a bad time. Let me know if you find any great poems lying around.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Christopher Morley, quoted in Saturday Review Treasury (1957)
“The thing I enjoyed most were visits from children. They did not want public office.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his years in the White House, in On Growing Up: Letters to American Boys and Girls (1962)
“Being a politician is a poor profession. Being a public servant is a noble one.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Growing Up: Letters to American Boys & Girls (1962); also quoted in Herbert Hoover On Growing Up: Letters from and to American Children (1990) edited by Timothy Walch
“Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Christian Science Monitor (21 May 1964)
“When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in the New York Times (9 August 1964)
“Many years ago, I concluded that a few hair shirts were part of the mental wardrobe of every man. The president differs from other men in that he has a more extensive wardrobe.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in the New York Times (17 October 1964)
“About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in obituaries (20 October 1964)
“I outlived the bastards.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: When asked how he dealt with people who blamed him for the Great Depression, quoted in The Court Years 1939-75 (1980) by William O. Douglas
“I’m the only person of distinction who’s ever had a depression named for him.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in An Uncommon Man (1984) by Richard Norton Smith
“Our country has deliberately undertaken a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Prohibition; sometimes misquoted as referring to Prohibition as "a noble experiment"; reported as such in Paul F. Boller, Jr., and John George, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, & Misleading Attri…
“With impressive proof on all sides of magnificent progress, no one can rightly deny the fundamental correctness of our economic system.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The swimming hole is still in use. It has the same mudbank. It is still impossible to dress without carrying mud home in one’s inner garments. As an engineer I could devise improvements for that swimming hole. But I doubt if the decrease in mother’s grief at the homecoming of muddy boys would compensate the inherent joys of getting muddy.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“More than ten million women march to work every morning side by side with the men. Steadily the importance of women is gaining not only in the routine tasks of industry but in executive responsibility. I include also the woman who stays at home as the guardian of the welfare of the family. She is a partner in the job and wages. Women constitute a part of our industrial achievement.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The ancient bitter opposition to improved methods on the ancient theory that it more than temporarily deprives men of employment... has no place in the gospel of American progress.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I, with other Americans, have perhaps unduly resented the stream of criticism of American life... more particularly have I resented the sneers at Main Street. For I have known that in the cottages that lay behind the street rested the strength of our national character.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In my public statements I have earnestly urged that there rested upon government many responsibilities which affect the moral and spiritual welfare of our people. The participation of women in elections has produced a keener realization of the importance of these questions and has contributed to higher national ideals. Moreover, it is through them that our national ideals are ingrained in our children.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bureaucracy is ever desirous of spreading its influence and its power. You cannot extend the mastery of the government over the daily working life of a people without at the same time making it the master of the people's souls and thoughts. Every expansion of government in business means that government in order to protect itself from the political consequences of its errors and wrongs is driven irresistibly without peace to greater and greater control of the nation's press and platform. Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Liberalism should be found not striving to spread bureaucracy but striving to set bounds to it. True liberalism seeks all legitimate freedom first in the confident belief that without such freedom the pursuit of all other blessings and benefits is vain. That belief is the foundation of all American progress, political as well as economic.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The American people from bitter experience have a rightful fear that great business units might be used to dominate our industrial life and by illegal and unethical practices destroy equality of opportunity...”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our people are steadily increasing their spending for higher standards of living. Today there are almost nine automobiles for each ten families, where seven and one-half years ago only enough automobiles were running to average less than four for each ten families. The slogan of progress is changing from the full dinner pail to the full garage. Our people have more to eat, better things to wear, and better homes.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wages have increased, the cost of living has decreased. The job of every man and woman has been made more secure. We have in this short period decreased the fear of poverty, the fear of unemployment, the fear of old age; and these fears that are the greatest calamities of human kind.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In order that there can be no doubt as to its antithesis to Liberalism, we may well accept Premier Mussolini’s definition of Fascism: . . . ‘Granted that the nineteenth century was the century of Socialism, of Liberalism and Democracy . . . it may rather be expected that this will be the century of authority, a century of the left, a century of Fascism; for if the nineteenth century was a century of individualism (Liberalism always signifying individualism) it may be expected that this will be the century of collectivism, and hence the century of the state. . .’”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So far as the personal side is concerned, the victory was to him who lost and the defeat to him who won. I can say that never in the last fifteen years have I had the peace of mind that I have since the election. I have almost a feeling of elation.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The President is not only the leader of a party, he is the President of the whole people. He must interpret the conscience of America. He must guide his conduct by the idealism of our people.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is not a showman’s job. I will not step out of character.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Prosperity cannot be restored by raids upon the public Treasury.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It does not follow, because our difficulties are stupendous, because there are some souls timorous enough to doubt the validity and effectiveness of our ideals and our system, that we must turn to a state controlled or state directed social or economic system in order to cure our troubles.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No country can squander itself to prosperity on the ruin of its taxpayers.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As a nation we must prevent hunger and cold to those of our people who are in honest difficulties.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The basis of successful relief in national distress is to mobilize and organize the infinite number of agencies of self help in the community. That has been the American way.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am willing to pledge myself that if the time should ever come that the voluntary agencies of the country together with the local and state governments are unable to find resources with which to prevent hunger and suffering … I will ask the aid of every resource of the Federal Government.... I have the faith in the American people that such a day will not come.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Reports to the Surgeon General... represent the final word upon the efficient and devoted sense of responsibility of our people in this obligation to our fellow citizens. Overwhelmingly they confirm the fact that the general mortality rate, infant mortality rate, epidemics, the disease rate—are less than in normal times. There is but one explanation. That is, that through an aroused sense of public responsibility, those in destitution and their children are receiving actually more adequate care than even in normal times.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the large sense the primary cause of the Great Depression was the war of 1914-1918. Without the war there would have been no depression of such dimensions. There might have been a normal cyclical recession; but, with the usual timing, even that readjustment probably would not have taken place at that particular period, nor would it have been a "Great Depression.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every collectivist revolution rides in on a Trojan horse of 'emergency'. It was the tactic of Lenin, Hitler, and Mussolini. In the collectivist sweep over a dozen minor countries of Europe, it was the cry of men striving to get on horseback. And 'emergency' became the justification of the subsequent steps. This technique of creating emergency is the greatest achievement that demagoguery attains... The invasion of New Deal Collectivism was introduced by this same Trojan horse.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The recognition of Russia on November 16, 1933, started forces which were to have considerable influence in the attempt to collectivize the United States.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Economic depression can not be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would emphasize again that social and economic solutions, as such, will not avail to satisfy the aspirations of the people unless they conform with the traditions of our race, deeply grooved in their sentiments through a century and a half of struggle for ideals of life that are rooted in religion and fed from purely spiritual springs.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am firmly opposed to the government entering into any business the major purpose of which is competition with our citizens... for the Federal Government deliberately to go out to build up and expand... a power and manufacturing business is to break down the initiative and enterprise of the American people; it is the destruction of equality of opportunity amongst our people, it is the negation of the ideals upon which our civilization has been based.”
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source